Inuit get permanent voice in setting international shipping policies
International Maritime Organization assembly approves decision to give Inuit Circumpolar Council permanent consultative status
The Canadian Coast Guard ship Terry Fox breaks ice ahead of the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent during a scientific mission charting Canada’s Arctic continental shelf in 2015. The Inuit Circumpolar Council is the first Indigenous Peoples organization to receive permanent consultative status at the world’s shipping regulatory agency — the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization. (Handout photo)
Inuit now have a guaranteed voice in forming Arctic shipping policy.
The International Maritime Organization assembly approved a decision from the organization’s council, made this summer, granting the Inuit Circumpolar Council permanent consultative status.
The approval was finalized during the assembly’s biennial gathering in London, which ran Nov. 24 through Dec. 3.
The Inuit Circumpolar Council announced the decision Monday in a news release, calling it a “historic milestone” for Inuit rights.
The International Maritime Organization is the United Nations’ agency responsible for setting policies to protect the environment, as well as safety and security in the shipping industry.
With permanent consultative status, Inuit perspectives and priorities will be included in the formation of these policies.
“This decision marks an important recognition of Inuit rights, expertise, knowledge system and leadership in the global maritime community,” said Herb Nakimayak, vice-chair with the Inuit Circumpolar Council, in the release.
The council gained provisional, or temporary, consultative status in 2021. At the time, Russia, Japan, United Arab Emirates and China voted against granting the council permanent status.
The Inuit Circumpolar Council was the first organization of Indigenous Peoples to gain provisional consultative status at the International Maritime Organization and are now the only organization of this kind with permanent consultative status.
Founded in 1977, the Inuit Circumpolar Council is an international non-government organization representing approximately 180,000 Inuit in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and Chukotka in eastern Russia.
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